The Long Game: Forging the Amazon's Next Chapter

About this episode

The episode discusses international conservation efforts and legal advancements in the Amazon, featuring insights from key experts.

In June 1992, 179 nations made two pledges that still shape every international conservation agreement today, and thirty years later, the world's most important climate conference was held inside a tropical rainforest. What happens in those halls matters—but so does everything that happens after. James Deutsch, CEO of Rainforest Trust, breaks down how a half-billion-dollar pledge helped catalyze the 30x30 target, why the Tropical Forests Forever Facility could fix a structural flaw in carbon finance, and where he sees the next window for real conservation progress. Constanza Prieto Figelist, Legal Director for Latin America at the Earth Law Center, explains how a Peruvian court recognized the Marañón River as a subject of rights, and why four articles in Ecuador's constitution have stopped more destructive projects than years of protest ever could. Catarina Nefertari of Amazônia de Pé was on the ground in Belém when COP30 arrived, and has spent years closing the distance between communities most affected by Amazon destruction and the rooms where decisions about its future are made. This is the series finale of Rewilding Amazonia. The Amazon's next chapter is still being forged…

People in this episode

Host: Brooke Mitchell

Guests: James Deutsch, Constanza Prieto Figelist, Catarina Nefertari

Topics covered

• conservation
• climate change
• Amazon rainforest
• legal rights
• community engagement
• international agreements

Keywords

• Amazon
• conservation
• climate conference
• legal rights
• community
• carbon finance
• international agreements

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rainforest Trust, Earth Law Center, Amazônia de Pé

Places: Peru, Ecuador, Amazon

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• Whose Forest? The Defenders of the Amazon · May 26, 2026 · 42 min
• Rivers in the Sky: The Amazon's Tipping Point, Sentinel Dolphins & the Geothermal Deep · May 19, 2026 · 34 min
• Seeing the Invisible: Tracking Destruction, Measuring Recovery · May 12, 2026 · 31 min
• The Severed Lifeline: Rebuilding a Fragmented Amazon · May 5, 2026 · 33 min
• The Ghost Forest: Bringing Wildlife Back from the Brink · April 28, 2026 · 34 min